La Walon Bungalows Kuta

... at the present moment (it's "wintertime" in Australia which compared to Montreal, can't be much!) that we've got a whole slough of contacts, addresses and names of places to visit before even setting foot in the country.

Some of the highlights from our Bali Circle Tour:
1) Hate to admit it, but one of our memories from Bali is definitely going to be...food; both the food we've enjoyed here as well as the foods (extensive list) that we've really missed. In fact ...

... Jed** v**folgt mit gewiss** Sturheit seinen Kurs, gibt ab** nach, wenn es für einen and**en brenzlig zu w**den droht. Damit kann man klarkommen, wenn man gute N**ven hat und sein Zweirad beh**rscht. In 4 und Wochen habe ich hi** keinen einzigen Unfall gesehen, in Vietnam waren es damals dagegen an jedem Tag mindestens zwei.

Die Insel ist von groß** tropisch** Schönheit, bietet wilde sanfte Küsten, liebliche wass**reiche Täl** mit kunstvollen großen und kleinen Reist**rassen ...

... that's what travelling is, it's about experiencing new places. And whether you like them or not generally depends on your own attitude...
I figured the only way to not hate Kuta was to go with the flow. So we did. We bought cheap sunglasses and t-shirts, we went out, requesting songs for the live band to sing and within minutes I found myself on stage with them, singing 'Guns 'n Roses' songs. We went clubbing, dived into the deafening music and all in all Kuta didn't seem so bad anymore.

... up to a nice pool, set in a lush tropical setting. And did I mention the free Wi-Fi, and the free breakfast delivered to either our room or poolside? I think one of the kids summed it up nicely, "Fat Yogi's rocks!!" "Well, at $30 a night, it had better be pretty nice...that's double our budget!!" We had read that the Balinese take their culture very seriously, and this was reinforced with their actions on this holiday. As we checked into Fat Yogi's ...

... guess this is a standard practice in Ubud even though everywhere else we had been in Indonesia included taxes in their price. Sleeping in the bungalow was really nice compared to where we had been for the past several weeks. Although there was no air-conditioning, we actually did not need it this night. It was the first time in at least three weeks that I needed to use a blanket. It was also nice to have a soft double bed with a useful pillow all to myself ...

Ahh, what a good night's sleep, and in a great budget hotel too. The Indonesia section of the LP book scores again. After devouring a banana pancake, I headed out to the beach. Kuta is basically a larger, busier Asian clone of Rosarito, so anyone who's been there should get an accurate mental image in their head. Not that I've ever been to Rosarito, or would have any idea what a naughty debaucherous Mexican beach town is like... I waded out into the water for ...

(Alexander) I was walking along just about to get to the Monkey Forest entry and Suddenly a monkey ripped a Hole in my Manchester United Shirt (and I was Drinking some apple juice). I Think that monkey wanted my apple juice as much as me.

... with all of these houses/temples, surf shops, and little restaurants with $0.50 fresh juices and $1.50 meals, but it is also the "developing world" so there was the de rigeur amount of wild animals, children, and trash mixing it up. I also read a couple of local websites for restaurant/nightlife advice, where I learned that no one goes out until midnight and doesn't go home until 6:00 a.m. or whatever, so I switched gears. I didn't eat ...